Hello Santhakumar,

It is not a great amount to be sure. While appreciating the concern expressed
in your question, more important is the simple fact that traditional solders
present no demonstrable risk to human health or the water table and that in
total, it now appears that lead-free will have a worse impact on the health of
the environment.

The inanity of the EU lead-free effort is further evidenced by the fact that
the EU regulations require first a conversion to lead-free and then a move
recycling.

As it has been pointed out by others in this forum, lead-free alloys will be
more difficult to recycle than traditional solders, thus increasing such
costs. Moreover if one recycles traditional solders containing lead, any presumed
risk is obviated. So where is the logic?...

Most thoughtful observers, especially those without products to sell, have
noted that science and logic have been almost totally absent from the
legislation effort.

On the positive side there has been some excellent engineering effort put
forth by many dedicated engineers and consultants around the world who have been
tasked by their management to make it work. We have all benefited from what
they have been forced to learn and we owe them thanks.

Still and put simply, lead-free is not "green" or "environmentally friendly"
and the reliability will be a question mark for some years to come. I believe
you will find in this industry few, save those who are actively responsible
for marketing lead-free related products or solutions, who will disagree or try
to mount a scientific argument with these simple facts.

I don't put forth much hope that the current crop of EU politicians will act
responsibly on this matter but we can hope that in the future they will be
replaced by some wiser European statesmen, who will be less swayed by lobbyists
and more responsive to the council of the scientific community and that they
will find a way to make amends for the benefit of their constituents, the
industry, the consumer and the environment.

Kind regards,
Joe

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leadfee Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Leadfree
To temporarily stop delivery of Leadree for vacation breaks send: SET Leadfree NOMAIL
Search previous postings at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------